I have gone to more of a whole food approach, plus I have to go wheat free. That in itself limits the sugar (no processed foods) and no wheat does lower your carbs. Almost everyone I have talked to that has gone wheat free had a significant weight loss just to that one change.

I think it is all about balance, and most of us get too much sugar and empty carbs when we don't watch our diets.

I switched to a low carb diet about two and a half weeks ago. It's called the TNT Diet, and it couples a high fat/protein diet with weight lifting. I managed to break my 3 month plateau using it and am seeing some increased muscle mass already. My wife is loving that last part

i tried it for a week and a half :P i couldn't do it. i was feeling flat at the gym all the time. i wonder if it takes longer than this for the body to start using fat and protein as well as carbs for fuel. or is this not the idea?

I started a high protein low carb diet three years ago and did no exercise at all. I felt like the energizer bunny and dropped weight like crazy. I lost 14 lbs the first week! After about 3 months, my father died and I could not concentrate on the diet at all and lost all momentum. I ended up gaining all 32 lbs. back as I consoled myself with food. I am finally getting back to this and started today. Are you drinking a lot of water? That helped me tremendously.

Is anybody doing low carb or Atkins? I love this way of life it really helps eliminate sugar all together and you start to get full again w/o the weight gain.

I've been eating LC since 4/2004 and have maintained a 78 lb loss. It was the easiest way to lose weight for me. I found that if I limit my carb intake, I can eliminate cravings for sweets. If I occasionally indulge in a high carb treat, I will lower my carb intake for the next few days.

i tried it for a week and a half :P i couldn't do it. i was feeling flat at the gym all the time. i wonder if it takes longer than this for the body to start using fat and protein as well as carbs for fuel. or is this not the idea?

The first two weeks are the hardest. During the first three days, I was headachy, lethargic, and just generally out of sorts. I don't drink caffeine (which you should not have on this diet) so I wasn't withdrawing from that as well as carbs, but I've heard from caffeine drinkers that these symptoms are intensified. I had these symptoms on and off for the first week. As I went into the second week, they got better and by the end of week 2, my husband had to remind me to eat. All cravings were gone. I had more energy than I knew what to do with.

I *detest* exercise, but by the end of week 2, I was literally bouncing from foot to foot as I'd do dishes or some other chore and I *wanted* to go out walking. My husband commented that he'd never seen me move so energetically on a walk before.

I lost 70 pounds and kept it off for 8 years. Don't ask me why that didn't motivate me to keep going, but it didn't. I'm back on it now and have lost another 35 pounds.

I've been doing low carb for about 9 weeks now. It really does help keep the sweet cravings under control. I've also been using the Ketone test strips. to monitor my fat burning.

The ketone strips are not an accurate way of testing whether you're 'burning fat'...despite what all the books say. I did a little testing of my own after doing some reading and discovered that I can change the color of that strip simply by decreasing or increasing the amount of water I drink. The more water you drink, the less purple because the ketones are being highly diluted.

I will tell you that, based on everything I've read, I believe that a deep purple ketostix is a danger sign that you're not drinking enough water to dilute the ketones going through your kidneys. This was confirmed by my doctor. Now, all things being equal, most people don't stay on a low carb diet for long enough for this to be a problem.

For me, it's the way I intend eating the rest of my life since it takes me from an insulin resistant diabetic taking meds (and still struggling to control sugar levels) to a non-insulin resistant, no med diabetic. Plus my cholesterol levels straighten out...bonus.